A study of esterification reactions

Introduction:
Perfumes and fragrances are among the most widely used chemical substances. Fragrances produce a pleasant odor for the body, room, and consumer products. Historically fragrances are extracted from flowers and herbs; however, synthetic versions of many of such fragrances are now being produced as well. Interestingly enough, many of these fragrances are esters.

Esters are compounds formed by a combining an alcohol and an acid. An esterification is a reaction which achieves this. An example is the production of methyl benzoate (Artificial flavor/ Essence of Niobe) from methanol and benzoic acid. 

Varieties of esters form the ingredients of most artificial flavors, fragrances, and perfumes. 

Some esters can polymerize and form plastic fibers and sheets. Plexiglas is among such polymers.

 
 Project description:
In this project you will study esterification. You will learn how easy it is to make esters and learn about the procedures, conditions, and requirements of making esters. Your experiments include making a synthetic fragrance or flavor of banana, apple, orange,...
 Details of this project
More details or support on this project is available for the members of ScienceProject.com. Material needed for experiments can be purchased online or from local science suppliers.